Apr 23 Leek and Cheese Tart

The mighty leek is part of the onion family. Unlike onions, they’re a lot more subtle and sweeter in taste and they also have heaps of health benefits too. High in fibre, vitamins, minerals and anti oxidants which help aid bone and heart health. So with this in mind, I’ve decided to make it a little bit naughtier and lay it on some all butter puff pastry and melt lots of scrumptious cheesed on it!

Serves 4 as a light meal with a side salad

Ingredients

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Unroll the pastry sheet onto a non stick baking tray and bake for 15 minutes or until golden. When its cooked take it out the oven and pierce it two or three places to release the heat whilst you move on to the leeks

2. Leeks tend to hide lots of soil in their many layers, so to clean firstly take off the tough outer layers and trim off most of the very green part. With the sharpest knife you have, place the leek on a flat surface and cut vertically about half way down then fan out the layers then rinse them through. *Slice them length ways in 4 quarters and gently put them into a pan of salted boiling water then cook for about 10 minutes or until they start to soften. Drain the water and heat the butter and oil into a frying pan and add the leeks, cook until they have very lightly coloured on both sides and remove from heat.*You can skip boiling the leeks if you thinly sliced the leeks width ways then cook in the butter and oil, fry until they have softened.

3. Put the grated parmesan in a shallow dish and add the cooked leeks, sliced wild garlic with a little extra drizzle of oil, seasoning and then gently mix to coat everything.

4. Back to the pastry; With the palm of your hand press the pastry down in the centre and a little on the sides. It will crack and flake but thats nothing to worry about! Lay the leeks on the pastry in a single layer, leaving about 2cm border around the edges. Dot over the goats cheese and any remaining oil from the shallow dish you mixed everything in and bake for about 10 minutes. Best served straight away.